Today’s young photographers have grown up with Auto-Focus (AF), so they will be unaware of the first AF cameras with ‘whizz’ ‘whizz’ ‘whizz’ as the camera tried to focus, especially in low light situations.
I always felt that I could focus manually faster than the AF could, and what was even more important, I knew what were the important items in the frame – the electronic “magic eye” did not.
Things have changed. Quite frankly, today’s AF is better than me. Now that I need glasses as well, I am unsure whether I have the focus ‘sweet spot’ correctly, whilst my AF does, with a comforting ‘beep’.
AF gone wrong.
However, since almost all new cameras are AF, the following tips will try and ensure that you do get the sharp results that you think you’re going to get from the important AF feature.
There are unfortunately many situations where the magic AF eye just cannot work properly. If there is no contrast in the scene, then the AF will not work. If you are trying to focus in a “low light” situation then the AF will “hunt” constantly looking for a bright area. When trying to shoot through glass or wire mesh the AF can become totally confused as well. No, while AF is now almost 100 percent universal, it is still not 100 percent foolproof.
The focusing area for the AF system is a small circle or square in the middle of the viewfinder, so if you are taking a picture of two people two meters away, the camera may just focus on some object that it can see between your two subjects. Very often trees. Those trees are two km away, so you get a shot with the background sharp and the two people in the foreground as soft fuzzy blobs.
What you have to do is use the “hold-focus” (sometimes called “focus lock”) facility in your camera. To use this facility, compose the people the way you want them, but then turn the camera so that one person is now directly in the middle of the viewfinder, in the AF focus point. Gently push the shutter release half way down and the AF will “fix” on the subject. Generally you will get a “beep” or a green light in the viewfinder to let you know that the camera has fixed its focus. It will now hold that focus until you either fully depress the shutter release, or you take your finger off the button. So keeping your finger on the button, recompose the picture in the viewfinder and shoot. The people are now remaining in focus, and the background soft and fuzzy, instead of the other way round.
So what should you do in the other situations when the AF is in trouble? When all else fails, turn it off and focus manually! Sometimes, in the poor light it is possible to shine a torch on the subject, get the AF fixed on the subject and then turn off your torch and go from there. But this is only when you cannot turn the AF off!
Another focusing problem is when photographing a moving subject. When say, for example, you are attempting to shoot a subject coming rapidly towards you, the AF is unable to “keep up” with the constantly moving target. The answer here is to manually focus at the point where you want to get the subject to be photographed and then wait for the subject to reach that point. As it approaches the predetermined point, rip off four of five frames and you have it. A sharply focused action photograph.
Here’s another great tip from the photographic studios of the glamour and portrait photographers – when taking a portrait shot, focus on the eyes, nowhere else. Very, very carefully focus on the eyelid margins and you will have a super shot, no matter how shallow your depth of field may be. The eyes have it!
Finally, remember that AF is merely an electronic ‘aid’, you have to make sure it is helping you get better pictures. Look carefully at what the pre-view screen is showing you before tripping the shutter.
